Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

Pretty Girls

Nov. 15, 1955. "Dr. Joyce Brothers holds up her category, boxing, after winning $8,000 on the CBS television program The $64,000 Question. Dr. Brothers will return next week to decide whether to keep the $8,000 or risk it against $16,000." New York World-Telegram and Sun Photo Collection. View full size.

July 1942. "Conservation. Rubber. This truck tire has run 146,000 miles. It is now planned to retread it with a life expectancy of at least half the original mile­age. The tire is size 9.75 x 20, weighs 129 pounds and was run at an air pressure of 70 pounds. Miss Jean Spanitz, stenographer in the Division of Motor Transpor­tation, Office of Defense Transportation, poses with the tire." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Albert Freeman for the Office of War Information. View full size.

New York, 1957. "Maya Angelou, full length portrait, dressed for her part in the Caribbean Calypso Festival." New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. View full size.

April 1961. "Sunbathing with the latest swimming pool equipment, including a lounge chair with floating beverage holders and game table attachments." From photos by Bob Sandberg for the Look magazine assignment "For Women Only -- Pool Life." Tell your kids about how back in the day people couldn't play cards or smoke in the pool, and all you're likely to get is a blank stare. View full size.

June 1943. Arlington County, Virginia. "Arlington Farms, war duration residence halls. Sunbathers on the sidewalk in the back of Idaho Hall." Photo by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information. View full size.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.